GS1 Digital Link validator
Paste a URI and see whether it conforms to GS1 Digital Link syntax 1.7.0 — and what GS1 data it actually carries. Free, no sign-up, everything runs in your browser.
How a GS1 Digital Link is put together
A Digital Link is an ordinary web address with GS1 data built into it. Four parts, always in this order:
https://brand.example/01/09520123456788/10/ABC123?17=261231
- Resolver address
- Where the code leads when someone scans it with a phone — usually the manufacturer's domain, hosting the product page, patient leaflet or instructions. Without your own domain, use id.gs1.org. It has no bearing on what the data means.
- Key
- Says what is identified: a product (GTIN, AI 01), a pallet (SSCC, AI 00), a place (GLN, AI 414). Exactly one key per code — without it, it is not a Digital Link.
- Qualifier
- Makes the key more precise: which batch (AI 10), which individual item (AI 21). It belongs to the key and therefore sits in the path — and only in the order the standard allows.
- Data attribute
- Describes the item without identifying it: expiry date (AI 17), weight (AI 3103), production date (AI 11). It goes after the question mark and is always optional.
Rule of thumb: whatever identifies the item goes in the path. Whatever merely describes it goes after the question mark.
What is checked
- Structure: is there a valid GS1 key in the path, and do the qualifiers belong to it?
- Order: qualifiers must follow the sequence the standard defines — for a GTIN that is CPV, batch, serial.
- GTIN format: 14 digits, mandatory since syntax 1.4.0.
- Short names: /gtin/ and its relatives were removed from the standard in version 1.3.0.
- Query string: permitted data attributes only; qualifiers such as the serial belong in the path.
- Values: length and data type of every AI, against the same GS1 database as the AI database.
What is not checked
This tool checks the URI, not the resolver behind it — no address is contacted, nothing leaves your browser. Whether the resolver answers conformantly (linkset, CORS, redirects) is something the barValid app can test directly on the scanned code.
Compressed URIs are recognised and named, but not decoded.
Check before printing
A mistake in the URI usually surfaces once the packaging is already running. Check the string before it goes to print — and the finished code afterwards on the device, with a PDF inspection report as evidence.